Andy Dalton’s big half hands Bengals big lead

Andy Dalton has been no stranger to criticism in his NFL career, but the Bengals quarterback shouldn’t hear much if his second half goes anything like the first.

Dalton completed 15-of-24 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bengals to a 28-6 lead over the Jets at halftime in Cincinnati. The Jets defense that made Tom Brady look ordinary a week ago hasn’t come up with anything to stop Dalton this week. The pass rush hasn’t materialized and rookie cornerback Dee Milliner has been beaten time and again as the Bengals exploit a matchup that’s brought nothing but success.

Dalton wasn’t perfect. He was picked off by Jets defensive lineman Muhammad Wilkerson on a screen pass inside Bengals territory, but the Jets couldn’t move the ball for more than a field goal. Dalton rebounded with his third touchdown pass on the next drive, again picking on the overmatched Milliner and then Milliner’s replacement Darrin Walls once the Jets mercifully put Milliner on the bench.

Marvin Jones caught that third touchdown pass, capping the best half of his NFL career. He has career highs with 116 receiving yards and three touchdowns with a lot of day left to play.He’s had plenty of help from A.J. Green and Mohamad Sanu in a rough day for the Jets secondary, but Jones’ emergence in the last few weeks has been vital to the Bengals offense.

But it may not all be on the Jets. This is the third week in a row with three touchdown passes for Dalton and the Bengals offense and it has the team well on their way to a fourth straight victory. That would mean a firm grasp on first place in the AFC North at the halfway point and a bright future for the 2013 Bengals.

About the only black mark for the Bengals was the loss of linebacker Rey Maualuga. Maualuga was carted off in the second quarter after meeting the hard-charging Chris Ivory in the hole and dropping immediately to the turf. It looked like it may have been a head injury at the moment of impact, but the team is calling it a knee injury.

Milliner looks like a HUGE bust, you can say all you want about how DB’s take forever to develop but this guy has shown NO improvement over the weeks and can’t cover even some of the worst receivers in the league.

13fitzj says:Oct 27, 2013 5:41 PM

Cinci’s O-line has done a good job of holding off the Jets’ pass rush and Andy has capitalized making some BEAUTIFUL throws. It’s easy to get frustrated with DB’s but there hasn’t been a whole lot to do with many of these throws.

doctorrustbelt says:Oct 27, 2013 5:43 PM

Marvin Jones is a class act… but… Marvin Jones had never had more than 70 receiving yards in a game until last week.

Mohamed Sanu has only had one game over 48 yards in his career.

The #2 and #3 wr spots (… and undependable Gresham) have been holding Dalton/Bengals Offense back for a couple years.

Daltons red hair caught on fire.
Critics, you have a job to do and that is open your mouth and criticize otherwise you’ll be without a job. Hahaha! keep talking! this Texas kid is just warming up. just warming up!

Josh, he shouldn’t hear much even if he doesn’t throw a pass in the second half. Anyone who watches him on a semi-regular basis realizes:

1) All quarterbacks have bad games, and make the occasional bone-headed throw. All of them.

2) Dalton is good more often then bad. A lot more often. His team always has a shot with him under center.

3) The concept that he can’t throw the long ball is wrong. I’ve seen him hit plenty of deep balls, both this week and in the weeks that have passed.

4) One of the better starts to a QB career in NFL history. The math doesn’t lie.

This first half has really little to do with anything. It’s just more of a great player playing great.

doctorrustbelt says:Oct 27, 2013 5:55 PM

kevin harlan is one of the worst announcers.

orivar says:Oct 27, 2013 5:56 PM

Dalton’s problem is that he’s inconsistent.

tigerlilac says:Oct 27, 2013 5:57 PM

The Jets are going to okay when they sit Milliner. They picked up another former Patriots player in Ras I Dowling last week who can take Millner’s place and be a team captain on Sunday. Does making former Patriots a Jets’ team captain on any given Sunday psyche out the opposition or does that just work against the Patriots? And didn’t Rex warn the refs this week about how the Bengals break the rules?

strokinmyego says:Oct 27, 2013 5:58 PM

It’s funny how little that Jets win last week is going to mean. In less then two hours they’ll be two games back of the Patriots with the Saints coming to town next week.

I hope you enjoyed that win last week Jets fans because your team is going to be 4-5 after next week and almost hopelessly out of it.

Any realistic Jets fan saw this coming a mile away, the Jets simply don’t match up well with the Bengals at all. The Jets are certainly exceeding expectations but to be 100% truthful, we are still just an average team. The future looks bright, but until then we’ll have to sit through a couple of these games.